A third suspect has been charged with attempted first-degree murder in connection with the Jan. 31 shooting of Jose Saul Torres Jr. at a Great Bend residence.
Robert Dale Nicholas, 42, was moved from Hutchinson Correctional Facility and booked in at the Barton County Jail on Friday, in anticipation of a first appearance Monday morning in District Court. Magistrate Judge Verle Willey will preside.
Torres was shot the morning of Jan. 31 at 1407 Adams St. According to a story in the Feb. 1 Great Bend Tribune, police were dispatched to Broadway and Adams at 9:29 a.m. for a report of shots fired in the area. They had talked to several witnesses and cleared the scene when a man walked into the hospital with “a minor gunshot wound to the face,” according to Lt. Bill Browne at the Great Bend Police Department.
Officers were able to locate several witnesses who said an unknown male walked up to the residence and shot several rounds at the house before leaving in a tan sport utility vehicle. The police interviewed the injured man at the hospital, then Kansas Highway Patrol and deputies from the Barton County Sheriff’s Office located the vehicle at a residence east of Ellinwood. It was impounded and John Patrick Stevenson, now 45, of Great Bend was taken into custody.
 He was booked into the Barton County Jail on an attempted murder charge, with bond set at $500,000.
Police issued a BOLO (be on the lookout) order for two other men, adding there might be an unknown third suspect.
One of the two men sought was John Waylon Hensley Randall, who was 30 years old. He was arrested in February and charged with attempted first degree murder and criminal use of a sawed-off shotgun (one with a barrel less than 18 inches long). Earlier this month, a bond reduction/competency hearing for Randall was set for Dec. 5.
The other man police were looking for last January had not been charged with a crime in Barton County.
Stevenson was charged with aiding and abetting in attempted first degree murder by allegedly driving Randall and Nicholas to Torres’ residence on Jan. 31 with the intent to kill him. Stevenson was released April 22 on a $500,000 own-recognizance bond, with orders to contact the local police department and to maintain contact with the State. He was also ordered to have no contact with Torres, Randall or Nicholas.
The status of his case is pending.
A sealed affidavit from Nicholas dated Feb. 7 is in his case file. According to the Kansas Department of Corrections website, Nicholas was on parole for past crimes committed in Sedgwick County when he was arrested for violating parole on March 10. The violations were driving while a habitual violator and fleeing and attempting to elude a law enforcement officer.
The original parole was for theft /obtaining control of property under $25,000, and fleeing and attempting to elude an officer. The KDOC website also shows he was convicted for manufacturing drugs within 1,000 feet of a school in 2000, but that case is no longer active.
On Oct. 2, Nicholas applied for the detainer against him to be dropped, or for him to be released to stand trial. He is scheduled to be released from the Hutchinson Correctional Facility on June 27, 2014.